DRAMATIC FINISH

PALMER — Throughout the 2010 Alaska Baseball League season, the Mat-Su Miners have shown a flair for the dramatic, and the thrills continued Wednesday.

Quinn Pippen scored the go-ahead run from third on a Tyler Ruch sacrifice in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Miners a 3-2 come-from-behind win over the Athletes in Action Fire at Hermon Brothers Field.

“We’ve made it interesting this year for sure,” said Ruch, who helped Mat-Su earn its fourth walk-off win of the season and second in as many games.

Mat-Su trailed 2-1 heading into the final inning, but Ruch and Matt Wessinger drove in runs during the ninth to help the Miners improve to 20-7 overall and 7-2 in one-run games.

The victory was also Mat-Su’s eighth straight.

“They’ll agree with this, early in the game, we were not ready to play,” Mat-Su head coach Russell Raley said. “Credit our guys, they didn’t quit. They kept playing hard. (Geoffrey) Davenport kept pitching, kept us in the game.”

Davenport pitched seven strong innings for the Miners, scattering seven AIA hits and an earned run. He fanned nine and didn’t walk a hitter. Gage Smith pitched a pair of scoreless innings to grab the win in relief.

“Gage Smith comes out of the bullpen and does the same thing,” Raley said. “Gives us a chance to win.”

Even though the Miners were a bit sluggish at the plate through about eight innings, the pitching of Davenport and Smith kept the Miners in the position to make the ninth-inning comeback. And in the ninth, Mat-Su put together four hits and a walk during the two-run inning.

The Miners had a handful of key at-bats in the inning. Wes Thigpen, who also sparked Mat-Su’s 2-1 walk-off win over the Anchorage Glacier Pilots with a leadoff hit in the ninth on Sunday, led off the ninth on Wednesday with a single.

Matt Applegate entered the game as a pinch-runner and was promptly moved to second with a Reagan Moczygemba sacrifice bunt.

In one of the biggest at-bats of the night, Kevin Whitehead legged out an infield single after fouling pitches just outside of both the right field and left field lines.

“Whitehead had a huge at-bat. He dug it out, sent it down the (third base) line,” Raley said.

Whitehead sharply hit the ball to AIA third baseman Colby Everett, right near the bag. Everett made the long throw, but the ball bounced right in front of first baseman Will Watson as Whitehead crossed first.

“He’s not blessed with a lot of speed, but he hustled down the line, put some pressure on and the ball fell our way.” Raley said.

Wessinger followed the Whitehead hit with a single to center field that scored Applegate and tied the game at 2. Brett Schwartz drew a walk, which put Wessinger on second and Quinn Pippen, who entered the game as a pinch-runner for Whitehead, on third.

With the bases loaded, Ruch took three balls from AIA reliever Chad Fromm before Fromm was able to force the full count.

“The guy was struggling with his location a little bit, so I was trying to be patient,” Ruch said.

With the count full, Ruch punched a ball into right field to score Pippen.

“He got the job done,” Raley said of Ruch. “I never thought he wouldn’t. All the pressure is on the pitcher in that situation.”

AIA right fielder Ryan Matthews did force a play at the plate. Matthews caught the Ruch fly and was on target with his throw, but catcher Marc Schoch dropped the ball as Pippen slid around the AIA backstop and over the plate.

“It was a good throw. I didn’t think he was going to be able to have him right when I hit it, but then the throw was right on-line,” Ruch said. “It took a real good slide by Quinn to get around the tag.”

The win was Mat-Su’s fourth walk-off victory of the season. The Miners have also won a pair of road games in extra innings. Ruch said team chemistry has been key in these tight ball games.

“It’s tough on a summer team getting to know guys. I thought we’re done a real good job of coming together as a team in the short amount of time we’ve had together,” Ruch said. “We have real good team chemistry, we all believe in each other. One guy doesn’t get the job done, we think the next guy behind him can.”

Miners lose Bermudez

Mat-Su may be without starting centerfielder Pablo Bermudez for a while. Bermudez appeared to have suffered a leg injury as he doubled to deep centerfield in the fourth inning.

“The doctors are going to have to deem how severe,” Raley said. “I assume he’s going to be out for a little while.”

The Florida Atlantic has spent the season among Mat-Su’s top hitters. He is currently batting .374 with 34 hits, 17 runs and 19 RBI. Bermudez is tied for the team lead with the 19 RBI.

Miners in Showcase

Mat-Su will spend the next three days at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage competing in the ABL Major League Showcase. The Miners will play three times in the event, designed to showcase all six of the ABL’s teams during one weekend. Dozens of MLB scouts are typically in attendance. The Miners open play today against the Alaska Goldpanners at 3:30 p.m.. The Miners play AIA Saturday at noon and the Peninsula Oilers Sunday at noon.

All Showcase games count in the regular season standings.

Following the Showcase, Mat-Su hits the road for a seven-day, nine-game stay in Fairbanks.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.